An apology for absence was received from Cllr Alan Ridgers

 

The Worshipful the Mayor, Cllr John Caller offered condolences and best wishes to Cllr Ridgers on behalf of the Council following the sad news that his wife had passed away.

The Council’s thoughts are with Cllr Ridger’s family and friends at this sad time.

 

The Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 1 December 2020 were signed by the Mayor.

 

Cllrs Sarah Gow, Tony Rice and Lenny Rolles declared an Other Significant Interest in agenda items 7 (Council Tax and Budget Setting 2021-22) and Appendix 8 (Supplementary Report to Council Tax and Budget Setting 2021-22 - Appendix 8 - Economic Stimulus Package) in that they have been appointed as Directors of Rosherville Limited, the Council’s Local Authority Trading Company and had been advised by the Monitoring Officer that although the budget item could be an OSI relevant to the allocation of capital funding, as Cabinet will be making any decisions about actual allocation of capital, they can stay in the Council Chamber this evening, take part in the debate and vote.

 

No questions had been received.

Council is advised that the following change to committee membership been made by the Conservative Group:

 

Finance & Audit Committee:

Cllr Gurjit Bains replaces Cllr Tony Rice as a Member.

The Council was advised that the following change to Committee membership

had been made by the Conservative Group:

 

Finance & Audit Committee:

Cllr Gurjit Bains replaces Cllr Tony Rice as a Member.

 

 

To receive and adopt the proceedings, reports and recommendations of the following committees, except those items reserved under Council procedure Rule 5.2 (6) and to ratify and confirm the orders made by them.

Motions that proceedings, reports and recommendations of Committees, except those reserved under Council Procedure 5.2(6) as referred to below be received and adopted and where applicable the Orders made by them be ratified and confirmed were duly proposed, seconded and resolved in each case.

 

• Minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on Tuesday, 8 December 2020
• Minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on Wednesday, 16 December 2020
• Minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on Monday, 4 January 2021    
• Minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on Wednesday, 6 January 2021
• Minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on Monday, 1 February 2021   
• Minutes of the meeting of the Overview Scrutiny Committee held on Thursday, 11 February 2021          
• Minutes of the meeting of the Finance & Audit Committee held on Monday, 15 February 2021

 

The Council’s attention was drawn to Minute 87 of the Finance and Audit Committee held on Monday, 15 February 2021.

 

To receive and adopt the proceedings, reports and recommendations of committees contained in the list of items reserved under Council Procedure Rule 5.2(6) and to ratify the orders made by them. They will be dealt with in the following order:-

 

Cabinet

Finance & Audit Committee

Overview Scrutiny Committee

Planning Committee

Standards Committee

There were no reserved minutes.

 

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 17.4.1, an extension of time was given to Councillor John Burden and an equal amount of time to Cllrs Jordan Meade and Harold Craske.

 

The Chief Executive reminded Members that all individual votes in relation to the budget and any amendments thereto would be recorded as required by legislation.

 

 

It was moved by Cllr John Burden and seconded by Cllr Lee Croxton that:-

 

 

The motion before Council as set out in the order paper be approved.

 

 

An amendment was moved by Councillor Jordan Meade and seconded by Councillor Ejaz Aslam that:-

 

 

 

The Council will introduce free town centre parking, across all

Council-operated carparks, until 12noon each day, for a period of six

months, in order to increase town centre footfall for local businesses as

they meet the challenges of the Covid-19 recovery. 

 

 

 

Note: To be enacted once the lockdown is lifted and retail may legally

open.

 

Costings

 

For 6 months there would be a loss of income of £104K

 

It is proposed that this be funded from working balances, taking the

current shortfall for 2025/26 from £653,370 to £753,490.

 

These figures have been costed by the Parking and Finance Teams and

checked by the Section 151 Officer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following a debate, the amendment was put to the meeting and declared to be lost by 18 votes to 23:-

 

 

 

For the motion	Against the motion	Abstain
Cllrs: D Ashenden, H Ashenden, Aslam, Bains, Broadley, Dibben, A Elliott, E Elliott, Harding, Hills, Hoskins, Lane, Meade, Morton, Pritchard, Rice, Tiran, Wardle.	The Worshipful the Mayor Cllrs: Bungar, Burden, Craske, Croxton, Francis, Gow, Hayre, Khabra, L Milner, Mochrie-Cox, Morley, Mulheran, Rana, C Rolles, L Rolles, Sangha, Scollard, Singh, Sullivan, Thandi, Thompson and Wallace.	Cllr Pearton.

 

 

 

The substantive motion was put to the meeting and declared to be carried by 24 votes to 18

 

 

 

 

For the motion	Against the motion	Abstain
The Worshipful the Mayor Cllrs: Bungar, Burden, Craske, Croxton, Francis, Gow, Hayre, Khabra, L Milner, Mochrie-Cox, Morley, Mulheran, Pearton, Rana, C Rolles, L Rolles, Sangha, Scollard, Singh, Sullivan, Thandi, Thompson and Wallace.	Cllrs: D Ashenden, H Ashenden, Aslam, Bains, Broadley, Dibben, A Elliott, E Elliott, Harding, Hills, Hoskins, Lane, Meade, Morton, Pritchard, Rice, Tiran, Wardle.	None.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was therefore resolved that:-

 

1. It be noted that on 11 January 2021 the Director (Corporate Services) calculated;;

	(a)		the Council Tax Base 2021-22 for the whole Council area as 34,425.11 Band D equivalent properties, in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 made under Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 as amended by Section 74 of the Localism Act 2011
	(b)		for dwellings in those parts of its area to which a Parish precept relates as set out below;
			Part of the Council's area:					£
			Cobham					676.79
			Higham					1,574.64
			Luddesdown					100.87
			Meopham					3,059.59
			Shorne					1,158.33
			Vigo					716.71
			Gravesham & Northfleet					27,138.18
			Total					34,425.11
	2.		Calculate that the Council Tax requirement for the Council's own purposes for 2021-22 (excluding Parish precepts)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

The Mayor drew attention to the time remaining and stated that under Council Procedure Rule 12 he would extend the time allowed for business to be concluded until 10.45pm.

The Council received a report which updated Members on a decision taken to withdraw the council’s interest in the investment development opportunity on the Greenwich Peninsular.

 

Resolved that the decision taken to withdraw the council’s interest in the investment development opportunity on the Greenwich Peninsular be noted.

The Council received a report which present Members with the draft Equality Policy including objectives and action plan for 2021-24

 

 

Resolved that the Equality Policy, including the objectives and action plan, be adopted.

The Council received a report which presented Members with proposals developed by the Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) for key structural changes to the Corporate Management Team and associated services and sought relevant authority to the commencement of the constituted appointment process.

 

Resolved that:

 

·         The retirement of the Director (Planning and Development) be noted and his contribution to the authority be acknowledged

·         The proposed key changes to the corporate management structure as set out in the report be agreed

·         The convening of the authority's Appointments Panel and all related recruitment practises to oversee delivery of the enclosed proposals as appropriate be agreed.

 

The Council received a report that invited Members to appoint an Interim Monitoring Officer in accordance with statutory requirements. The appointment is expected to commence from 30 April 2021 and to last until such time a permanent appointment has been made and reported back to Full Council for consideration.

 

Resolved that, in accordance with Section 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, Jan Guyler be appointed as the Council’s Interim Monitoring Officer

 

To appoint a Member to the following outside body:-

 

•           Henry Pinnocks Charity

 

 

Resolved that Cllr Alan Ridgers be re-appointed to the Henry Pinnock and Victoria & Albert Memorial Charity for a four year term.

 

Question from Cllr Conrad Broadley – to Cllr John Burden, Leader of the Executive:

 

 

Could the Leader of the Executive please confirm what powers and responsibilities the Council has for protecting, preserving and ensuring in the long term restoration of Listed heritage structures and how does the Executive plan to utilise these powers at Rosherville to restore the listed and unlisted historic structures bringing them back into the public domain?

The following question had been submitted by Conrad Broadley and a response was given by Cllr John Burden, Leader of the Council:

 

 

 

Question:

 

Could the Leader of the Executive please confirm what powers and responsibilities the Council has for protecting, preserving and ensuring in the long term restoration of Listed heritage structures and how does the Executive plan to utilise these powers at Rosherville to restore the listed and unlisted historic structures bringing them back into the public domain?

 

Response:

 

Cllr John Burden, Leader of the Council, highlighted the following points in his response:-

 

Local authorities are given specific duties concerning the historic environment by the various planning acts.  These duties include those in:

 

• Planning (Listed Building & Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 66 (1)
• The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017

 

Much of this concerns having ‘special regard’ (listed buildings) and ‘paying special attention’ (conservation areas).

For Environmental Statements, it relates to cultural heritage, including architectural and archaeological aspects, and this is both sites and landscapes.

These are relevant for decision-taking and plan-making.

The following is a useful summary of relevant legislation, etc., Historic environment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), and includes:

 

In addition to the planning framework which is primarily set out in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990:

• The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 provides specific protection for buildings and areas of special architectural or historic interest;
• The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 provides specific protection for monuments of national interest;
• The Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 provides specific protection for wreck sites of archaeological, historic or artistic interest; and
• The Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 makes provision for the compilation of a register of gardens and other land (parks and gardens, and battlefields).
•  

While not part of the legislative framework, the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and National Heritage 1972 (to which the UK is a signatory) makes provision for the World Heritage List, which is a list of cultural and/or natural heritage sites of outstanding universal value.

 

It is worth noting that any decisions where listed buildings and their settings and conservation areas are a factor must address the statutory considerations of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (see in particular sections 16, 66 and 72) as well as applying the relevant policies in the development plan and the National Planning Policy Framework.

 

The Ebbsfleet Development Corporation (EDC) is the development management authority for the Northfleet Embankment area, and holds the decision-taking powers for planning application within its area.  However, as a consultee, the Council will take into account all legislative requirements when formulating its response, together with expert guidance provided by its heritage, archaeological advisers, etc.

In engaging with the EDC, the email extract below is a good example of this Council’s approach:

 

The Mayor thanked everyone in the community for their fantastic work during the pandemic including; helping people with food and shopping, the NHS using the Woodville to provide the vaccine and the Salvation Army and local supermarkets for helping to provide food for residents.